John Chavis Will Make Sure Texas A&M Finally Has an SEC Defense in 2015

HOOVER, Ala. — It was three straight years of the same thing, only with a different score. After losses of 24-19, 34-10 and 23-17, Texas A&M had defeated every SEC West opponent at least once since joining the league except for one: LSU.

So when the opportunity arose to hire veteran defensive coordinator John Chavis away from Baton Rouge, the Aggies looked to the proverb, "If you can't beat them, join them."

"That's exactly what it is," Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin said. "There's really nothing more to it than that."

Chavis, of course, was Tennessee's coordinator when the Volunteers won the national championship at the end of the 1998 season and held the same position at LSU when it faced Alabama for the 2011 title.

Four times, a Chavis-led defense has finished in the top five nationally in the statistical category of total defense, and 12 were in the top 15, including the last five with the Tigers. When he arrived at LSU in 2009, the Tigers jumped from 32nd in total defense to 26th the first year alone and went from 56th to 11th in scoring defense.

Meanwhile, Texas A&M was 102nd in total defense in 2014. The Aggies gave up 365 points and at least 34 in four of their five losses.

"We actually looked at the stats a week ago and said these are old numbers," defensive lineman Julien Obioha said. "This is not the way it's going to be.

"We're excited. We know how good of a coach he is. It's an honor to play for a Coach Chavis."

Auburn	Will Muschamp
Florida	Geoff Collins
LSU	Kevin Steele
Mississippi State	Manny Diaz
Missouri	Barry Odom
South Carolina	Jon Hoke
John Chavis	Texas A&M
Dererk Mason	Vanderbilt

Although his move to College Station has been controversial, and there's still a pending lawsuit between Chavis and LSU, more teams in the Southeastern Conference changed defensive coordinators than kept theirs from 2014—including Vanderbilt's Derek Mason giving himself the job after the Commodores went winless in league play, 3-9 overall and yielded 399 points.

Similar to Texas A&M, Auburn made a big move after going 8-5 and losing numerous shootouts despite its spread attack scoring 461 points. After its former coordinator, Will Muschamp, was let go as Florida's head coach, it gave him $1.6 million per year, almost double what predecessor Ellis Johnson made, to return.

"He just has that presence around him that he gives all the coaches confidence. He gives his players confidence," said Auburn coach Gus Malzahn, adding that he thought Muschamp had the best defensive mind in football.

"He's got the 'it' factor."

Texas A&M believes the same of Chavis and signed him to a three-year deal for $1.67 million annually with an option for a fourth season—significantly more than the $1.33 million extension LSU offered.

If he can replicate anything similar to his success at Tennessee (1995-2008) or LSU (2009-14), Texas A&M will consider it money well spent.

Anyone who has watched Southeastern Conference football over the past couple of decades is probably pretty familiar with Chavis' defense. It's a multiple 4-3 base designed to always have a fifth pass-rusher although coming from where is anyone's guess.

To do that, Chavis usually has his cornerbacks match up one-on-one against the wideouts, with one safety left high.

"His style, we've studied it so much over the course of the last three years in the offseason to try to get better," Sumlin said. "Like I told him, I know this thing like the back of my hand. I just need to know what you call it because I can tell you what it is."

While no one doubts whether Chavis has the pass-rusher to create pressure, as sophomore Myles Garrett set an SEC freshman record with 11.5 sacks last season, the big question appears to be if the Aggies have the cornerbacks to successfully execute Chavis' press coverage.

One spot appears set with senior De'Vante Harris coming in with 33 games of experience and 25 starts while at safety, Armani Watts made three interceptions as a freshman last season, and junior college transfer Justin Evans had a strong spring.

But where teammates say they already see a big difference is in attitude, with the confidence nothing short of contagious.

"They're an aggressive defense," offensive lineman Germain Ifedi said. "They're coming after it now."

Obioha had another word for it: "swagger." LSU certainly had it with Chavis, and A&M began to discover it during the spring.

"Our first year here, we had a group of seniors who are physically and mentally tough," Sumlin said. "Last year, I think guys like Armani Watts, who started off the year great playing free safety for us, had a great game against South Carolina, Week 6, 7, 8, 9, he just was worn down."

Some of that obviously has to do with Sumlin's spread attack, which helped lead to a 11-2 surprise season when quarterback Johnny Manziel won the Heisman Trophy in 2012. But the Aggies have gone 9-4 and 8-5 since. What they apparently learned the hard way was that a program can only go so far in the SEC without a strong defense.

"Are we going to be the '82 [Chicago] Bears? I don't know," Sumlin said. "But I know that our confidence level is better. Where we are, we're playing faster, we're playing harder, and we're being more physical, and that's what we needed."

Year/team	Total D	Scoring D	Rushing D	Pass Effic. D
1995 UT	24	32	13	46
1996 UT	5	6	15	8
1997 UT	32	32	8	36
1998 UT	17	9	6	17
1999 UT	11	7	7	36
2000 UT	13	23	3	62
2001 UT	13	21	3	48
2002 UT	5	11	33	11
2003 UT	22	17	43	15
2004 UT	45	38	25	76
2005 UT	7	16	2	39
2006 UT	50	33	72	54
2007 UT	70	61	69	66
2008 UT	3	10	12	11
2009 LSU	26	11	46	18
2010 LSU	12	11	42	23
2011 LSU	2	2	5	3
2012 LSU	8	12	9	11
2013 LSU	15	21	35	28
2014	9	5	46	3

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Christopher Walsh is a lead SEC college football writer.

Follow Christopher on Twitter @WritingWalsh.